The boss of Seaside Travel has revealed plans to double the size its shop portfolio as the agency celebrates 21 years’ trading.
A Halloween-themed party for 120 staff and their families has been held to mark the anniversary of the business, which has grown rapidly since Covid, expanding from four stores to 10.
Owner Nicola Park said the chain is already looking at locations for its 11th branch after opening its largest store to date in Guisborough in August.
The next store could open before Christmas if the right location becomes available, with small village and town communities the agency’s favoured sites.
She said: “I wanted one more by the end of this year and an opportunity may still present itself. I look for a good rent and a good community, normally former mining villages.
“I am a huge believer in fate. I am not going to dive in if it’s not right but you just never know. A lot of shops have fallen into our laps.”
Beyond that, Park is already targeting further expansion of the business.
She said: “Really I want 20 shops; I don’t see why I can’t double the size of the business.
“Probably we’ll stay in the same area. We have looked at north Northumberland but I don’t want to go anywhere I can’t reach; I don’t want the shops spread out too far and wide.”
Family affair
Park stressed the importance of keeping the chain as a close knit “community and family” with staff and clients affectionately as ‘Seasiders’.
She added: “Everyone knows each other. The minute I don’t know people’s first and second names that’s it.”
Another three branches are likely to open in 2025 although there is no specific time scale for when the business will reach its target of 20 stores.
Park noted it has become easier as the business has expanded.
“It’s easier to open more shops when you have got more. Going from one to two shops is hard but going from four to five is not so bad,” explained Park, who started the business with one shop in Easington Colliery after working for Lunn Poly and Hays Travel.
She recalled: “When we went into the pandemic we had four shops; we had just opened one before Covid hit. I remember hiding under my quilt; it was the lowest I have ever felt. I was so frightened for all my staff and letting them down.
“I was losing a lot of money; my staff’s mortgages were on my shoulders and I vowed from then on to build up a bank of money so I was not in this position if anything like that happened again.
“After Covid I was a bit scared and I remember Lloyd (Cross) from Jet2holidays saying to me: “Why don’t you expand? What are you going to do, let this beat you?”
The words resonated with Park. Since then the business has taken the “opportunities to get bigger and make our name” and opened six more shops.
It’s a far cry from when she started the business with one branch, she admitted.
“My plan when I set up Seaside was to get the same salary [as my previous job] so I could pay the mortgage and then I’d be happy to stay with one agency,” she said.
The agency now employs 60 staff across the business.
And it is the staff Park credits for the success of the business, in particular some of her senior and longest-standing employees, which include senior branch manager Yasmin Kane, who has been with the business for 17 years; brand manager Richard Lowrey-Heywood; and training and resources manager Paula Gleeson.
“The people make Seaside what it is,” she said, adding: “Paula and I have been friends for life since we met aged 16 on our way to our jobs at Lunn Poly. We’ve been through so much together.
“I met Richard when I took over the Cumbria area for Travel Choice; we literally just clicked. I gave him his first manager’s job and over the years we’ve supported each other and laughed so much.
“Yaz came to Seaside at 15 and has never left; she knows more than me about Seaside Travel! I’ve seen her grow in work and life. She’s a phenomenal manager, wife and mother and is the heart of Seaside.”
New talent
Last year Gleeson’s role was created to look after staff training and new shop openings. She ensures new shop staff are brought up to speed on the ethos, values and customer service expectations of the business and taught the relevant of retail travel skills.
Seaside regularly takes on staff with no travel sales experience, from supermarket staff to former firefighters. None of the staff at its Haltwhistle shop have travel sales backgrounds for example.
Park is adamant experience is not necessary, noting: “They don’t have to be the loudest, they have to have a twinkle about them and that’s what makes them a Seasider.”
And what she wants most is for staff to enjoy coming to work and for customers to love their holidays.
“We just love our customers and our girls. I want them to be happy and not dread coming into work. Life’s got to be fun,” she said.
And while Park is the boss, she also offers to do whatever she can to help her shop staff. “I’ll do whatever is need if it makes their lives easier. When I go into my shops they make me wash up or clean the toilet; I am the dog’s body,” she joked.